"I do, Dale."
Roman asked, "What's your computer
password?"
Dale leaned towards Roman to say it in his
ear, "My granddaughter's name, Charlotte. Ya tell anyone and I'll
hunt you down, Agent Burk."
Roman replied, "Got my word."
"Thanks, Dale." Butch handed the keys to
Roman the two of them returned to the truck, where Charlie was
waiting, to head down Highway 40 to the county building.
Ten minutes later, Roman parked in the lot
and the three men walked in the chilly air to the main entrance. It
was a large white building, divided into three departments;
communication, corrections and patrol. 'Wasatch County Sheriff's
Department' was written in big letters over the double doors, which
had crests of the police badges on the glass.
While Charlie held the book, Roman opened the
door with the key. Butch led the way through the halls, by a
dispatch center where two women were working, and towards offices,
dark for the holiday.
Butch pointed to one. "That's Dale's office,
Roman."
Roman looked around the area to see what
computer technology he had available.
An officer who was on duty noticed them and
approached. "Can I help you?"
Roman flashed his ATF badge. "Agent Burk.
Sheriff Kenmore is allowing me to use his office for a few
hours."
"Oh, okay. Hi, Butch. Haven't seen you for a
while."
"I moved to Nevada…"
"Oh," the cop laughed. "That could be why.
Well, Merry Christmas."
"Wait," Roman called to him. "Do you have a
hand held scanner?"
"We may. Check that room there." The young
officer pointed to a door and walked off. He stopped and turned
around. "Butch, you seeing Vernon while you're here in town?"
Butch approached the young officer. "Yeah,
Dan. Why?"
"We made two arrests last night. You know the
animal sacrifices going on near his ranch?"
Roman and Charlie stepped closer to hear.
"Yeah, I do. Who did you guys get?" Butch
asked.
"Two young punks. Fuckers were caught doing
the same thing down the way from Vernon's place. They were high on
crank and said the devil commanded them. Some shit like that. We
got 'em locked up."
"Can you send those reports to me?" Roman
handed the officer his business card.
"Sure thing." The young cop nodded and walked
away.
"Well, I'll be." Butch shook his head.
"So, it had nothing to do with the cult in
the woods?" Charlie asked.
"My guess is no, but when I see the reports,
I'll know more."
Roman entered the room the officer had
indicated.
~
Charlie could not stop the sense of anxiety
inside him. He was holding a book…not just any book. A book given
to Roman by a red witch.
Did I just say that to myself?
Charlie
felt that ever since he had met Roman two years ago, he was living
a life of surrealism. Although a span of time had gone by where
things seemed normal, Charlie knew he was not normal. But he
pretended he was. What else could he do?
The events that occurred two years back, and
now for the last few days, washed over him, confused him, and
terrified him.
Roman and Butch searched the storeroom as
Charlie stood outside Dale's office, the book in his hand. He
looked at the cover again.
Yup. Two men suckling on a she-wolf.
Damn
.
Mythology and his own life were beginning to
overlap in a strange layer. Charlie didn't believe in religion. He
believed in the connection of the natural elements to the world,
the chain of ecology and how insignificant man was in the cosmos.
But now? Was he supposed to adopt paganism? Pluralism? An
imperialistic cult? Had he been converted into some kind of robotic
follower of a dead civilization?
Having found something, Roman, seemed
excited, and used a key to open Dale's office door. He set an item
down on the desk, turned on a light, and sat in the chair.
Charlie watched him boot up the computer,
typing in the sheriff's password.
An ATF agent can do anything
he wants. My oh my. Access to the county police computer.
Butch stood silently, watching, as if
fascinated.
Roman plugged the scanner into the port on
the computer and said, "Open the book to the page marked,
Charlie."
Setting the book down, being delicate with
its brittle pages, Charlie did, removing the red ribbon with the
inverted pentagram.
Roman placed the scanner on it, and slowly
rolled it over the pages. The image showed up on the computer
screen.
Charlie could see Roman's focus and his drive
to get the words translated. And of course, Roman did.
Tapping keys, opening windows of programs
Charlie had never even imagined existed, Agent Burk was now in
professional research mode, and decoding Latin was a cakewalk for
the brilliant law enforcer.
As the words began to show up on the screen,
in English, Butch and Charlie moved to stand behind Roman to read
it.
'…
and so the war of entities was
inevitable. The five centuries of control over Gaul's people marked
the beginning of Montague's revenge
…'
Charlie pointed to the name on the computer.
"Please tell me that does not say Montague."
"Oh my Lord." Butch leaned on Roman to keep
reading the text and so did Charlie.
'…
Montague, a devout follower of
Lupercalia vowed to seek revenge even as he was crucified in the
streets of Roma
…'
Charlie pointed to the word on the computer
screen. "Lupercalia?"
Roman said, "Well, canis lupus is a gray
wolf." Roman opened another search box and typed it in. "Yes. Wolf
worship."
Butch backed up and Charlie grabbed his
shoulder. "You okay?"
"Don't know." Butch leaned against a shelf
behind him.
"Roman…" Charlie said, "This thing. It's not
after Roman the man. It's after revenge on Rome…"
Roman took something out of his pocket and
Charlie leaned closer to inspect it. "What the hell is that?"
"I don't know."
Charlie reached for it and Roman gave it to
him while Butch turned pale.
"It's really old. Where did you find it?"
Charlie inspected it front and back.
"Ophelia—"
"Gave it to you," Charlie completed the
sentence in disbelief. "Why am I concerned about yer sanity?"
Roman met his gaze. "You?" He gave him a look
of exasperation. "Can you tell what the hell is on it?"
Charlie held it under a desk lamp. "A guy's
profile…" he turned it over. "…and horses."
"Lemme see." Butch reached for it.
"Ya gonna pass out?" Charlie asked before he
gave it to him.
"No."
Roman returned to the translation and kept
reading.
Butch inspected the medallion. "It says
Caesar under the horses."
"You sure?" Charlie tried to get another look
at it.
"I think so. I can make out the C-A-E-S."
Roman tapped more keys on the computer,
bringing up photographs of old Roman coins. All three of them
scanned the images.
"There." Butch pointed. "That one. I
think."
Charlie tried to see the similarities but the
medallion was not a cast coin, only an image resembling one, and
certainly not as small as the coin images on the computer
screen.
"That's Augustus," Roman said, reading the
description, "and I think it's a Roman quadriga on the back."
"A chariot?" Butch handed him the
medallion.
"Pretty much." Roman sat back in the seat.
"Man, I need time to digest this."
Charlie leaned on the desk. "Yer tellin' me,
the red witch is givin' you this shit?"
"Yes." Roman met his gaze. "I need
answers."
"She needs to answer why she's makin' these
kids kill animals." Butch crossed his arms over his chest.
"She isn't. I asked her that. And you heard
that cop. It's just kids hopped up on drugs. That's not coming from
Ophelia."
Charlie laughed in sarcasm but the look on
Roman's face shut him up. "You
asked her
that? Fer real or
were you dreamin'?"
"Well, for real?" Roman shrugged. "This
morning. In the mirror in the bathroom. She showed up and we
talked."
Butch laughed then shut up. "Oh. Yer
serious."
"If she watches me in there, I ain't gonna be
happy." Charlie looked back at the computer screen.
Roman hit print, and the printer behind Butch
began to churn out the pages. "It's too much to take in. I have to
read through this back at the cabin."
"I agree." Charlie looked out into the hall.
Christmas decorations were up, but the building felt nearly
deserted. "But if I had to just throw a wild guess out there…and
I'm being imaginative because I know how crazy this sounds."
"I'm listening," Roman said.
"Montague, worshiper of the wolf, somehow
became an Alpha…a god from Roman times. Then after his murder by
the Romans…" Charlie looked at the book. "He had it in his head to
avenge the cult. Maybe in the beginnin' he attacked the red witch,
thinkin' she was his enemy." Charlie read more of the translation
as it appeared on the computer screen. "And, I think somehow you
got mixed up in that revenge scheme, 'cus of yer name."
"As insane as that sounds. I think you're
right. But was Ophelia trying to stop Montague, help him, or help
me? And did her plan go wrong and she put a stop to him when he
tried to kill us?"
"No clue. I don't know, Roman, if we'll ever
find out." Charlie touched Roman's shoulder.
Roman began closing down the programs on the
computer. Before he did, he opened his email box.
Charlie was stunned at the number of messages
waiting for his contact. "Are you kiddin' me?"
"It's what happens when I take time off. Why
do you think I only wanted a couple of days at Vernon's place
before all this insanity began?"
Butch gathered the paperwork and used the
shelf's flat surface to straighten out the small pile.
Charlie watched Roman answer two emails, one
from Nick, his supervisor, and one from Phil. He answered the same
thing to both. '
I'm fine. Will be back at work Monday
.'
Then the computer screen went black. Roman
swiveled in the chair and looked at Butch. "You got it?"
"I do." Butch held the papers.
Roman pocketed the medallion and held the
book. Charlie left the office, walking back to the main entrance,
wondering if this whole curse was misguided, and Roman was not the
intended victim.
And…
It had not been the red witch at all. Not her
'coven'? Was she trying to protect Roman all along?
Charlie simply could not speculate.
Maybe once Roman changed, and all hell broke
loose, no one knew who was an ally or who was a mortal enemy. All
Charlie knew was things were back to normal. Or as normal as they
could be, for now.
Roman parked in the driveway of the Norman
ranch. He and the other two men climbed out of the pickup truck. It
was only one p.m., so Roman headed to the cabin to try and make a
decision on why or what all of the wolf-crow-shifting had to do
with him. Charlie was hit by the 'curse' when Roman bit him, so he
was an unintended victim.
But, was it a coincidence his name was
associated with a myth or an old feud between ancient warriors?
He entered the small cabin Charlie and he
shared with Butch, and after taking off his jacket, gun, and boots,
dropped down on the sofa to look over the evidence, which included
the police reports on the two arrests for the killing of the
animals.
"Want coffee?" Charlie asked.
"Beer." Roman set the book on his lap.
"Butch?"
"Same. Thanks, Charlie." Butch sat on the
couch beside Roman and leaned on his shoulder. "You will figure it
out. Yer so dang smart."
"I need my mega-computers in Reno." Roman
flipped the pages gently of the old book, unable to read any of the
Latin other than what they had translated, which was only a few
pages.
"Did she really give you them things?"
"The medallion dropped into the sink from…"
Roman pointed to the ceiling. "And you saw where the book came
from."
"Santa Claus?" Butch teased.
"Maybe." Roman glanced at him. "I used to
believe everything I was told as a kid was fiction. I don't know
reality from fantasy any longer."
Butch's smile dropped. "And I still don't
know how I was transported from standing beside the dead deer to a
cabin. Where the hell was that place? And how did Charlie find
me?"
"I think Ophelia led him to you." Roman
removed the amulet from his pocket to inspect. "I thought she was
all bad. I may have read that group wrong." He placed the amulet on
his lap on top of the book. "When I needed help, she showed me
where my gun was. She changed me from a crow to a man when
Montague's pack materialized. And I think being a crow was all done
by Ophelia. It was her intervention that gave me both."
"Did you say his 'pack'?"
"Yes." Roman turned to face Butch as Charlie
brought over two bottles of beer. "And the oddest part. They looked
like they were from an ancient legion of warriors."
Butch nodded, twisting off the bottle cap.
"The sword get-up. Yeah, I guess so. I would think that too."
After Charlie lit a fire in the hearth to
take the chill out of the air, he sat down on the chair beside the
couch. "So, Ophelia is not doin' the killin'. Some kids on dope
are."
"Yes, that's what I think. She said she
respects all of the earth's creatures and I believe her." Roman
handed Charlie the reports on the arrests.
"Then why did it take so long to find the
real animal killers?" Butch asked.
"I don't know. Maybe it's just bad luck."
Roman touched the faded book cover. "Maybe it was simply the timing
and the place. But in reality, I have a hunch it had nothing to do
with her."